Blooms of Friendship
by Lady Eleanor Boleyn
Summary: What if the Evans Family had been Purebloods? What if Lily had been Narcissa's age? What if they'd been the best of friends? Drabble story following them from the first meeting through Hogwarts and marriage...
1. First Meeting - 1960

The two little girls peered nervously at one another as they clung to the hems of their mother's robes. One was blonde, blue-eyed and beautiful. The other was red-haired, green-eyed and as lively as they come. But even she was quiet today.

"Well, well, isn't little Lily growing up? She's beautiful, Rosanna. Those eyes! Like emeralds! And her hair! So gorgeously curly and rich. You must take such care of it!"

"We do our best, Lady Druella," Rosanna Evans smiled, stroking her youngest daughter's hair proudly.

"I'm sure you do," Druella smiled back before lowering her voice, "Now tell me, how is poor Petunia? Have the Healers made any progress with her?"

"Druella!" Rosanna's voice was sharp. "Not in front of the children, if you please." Turning to her youngest daughter, she gently disengaged her hold, saying, "Lily, darling, why don't you show Narcissa the gardens? You can make some flower crowns, can't you?"

"Yes, Mummy," Lily nodded obediently, then skipped over to Narcissa and tugged impatiently at her hands, "Come on, Cissy!"

"Narcissa," the other girl protested, but she let herself be dragged outside and into a big, sprawling patch of wildflowers.

The two five year olds sat in silence for a while, each frowning in concentration as they began choosing and weaving together their chosen blooms but eventually Lily looked up.

"Here, for you, Cissy." She whispered, placing a crookedly twisted loop of deep blue cornflowers and red poppies on the blonde's head. This time, Cissy didn't protest at the use of the nickname. Instead, she raised her face and smiled tentatively back at Lily, holding out a much neater loop of white foxgloves and daises. "I made it for you," she answered.

Beaming, Lily fitted Cissy's gift on to her own head, then impulsively reached across and grabbed her hand, "Thank you, Cissy! It's beautiful!" She squealed.

There was a moment of silence while both sat back and admired their own handiwork, before, almost simultaneously, they burst out laughing.

From then on, Narcissa 'Cissy' Black and Lily Helena Evans were the best of friends.


	2. Petunia - 1962

"My sister's ill," Lily confided to Narcissa in a whisper one afternoon as the two of them stretched lazily out in the grass behind the Blacks' country manor.

Narcissa glanced up, "Ill how?"

It wasn't as if she hadn't heard whispers before, but she'd never known what the adults were talking about. Not properly. And this was the first time Lily had mentioned her sister since they'd been friends, proper friends. She couldn't help but be curious.

Sadly, Lily scratched her head, idly ruining the elaborate style her mother had had the Elves weave her copper curls into only that morning, "I'm not sure," she finally answered, "I think she's scared of her magic. She doesn't want to use it and it's making her ill."

"But who'd be scared of magic?" Narcissa laughed. Lily shrugged. "I don't know, but I think Tuney is. I don't know why though. I mean it's beautiful. Look."

At that, Lily cupped her hands and opened them again to show Narcissa a flaming rose curled inside. She laid it on the grass and guided it towards the other girl, making her squeal, "Lily! That's dangerous! What if the grass burns around us?"

But the envy in her voice betrayed her longing to be able to do the same thing.

"Why can't I do that?"

Lily shrugged, "It's just because we're different I guess. When we get old enough to do proper magic – to know what spell we're using, I'll teach you. I promise."

"Okay," Narcissa agreed, wanting to ask more about Petunia, but not quite daring to push her luck. Two years of friendship had taught her to read Lily better than almost anyone else could. She knew asking more would only upset her. She'd tell her more when the time was right.

Sure enough, Lily suffocated her flame and glanced up at her, "But you can do that pretty thing with the butterflies. Show me that again, please?"

Giggling, Narcissa spread her hands. A flock of big white and pale blue butterflies swooped out of them and fluttered about their heads. Laughing, Lily reached up to catch them. Narcissa watched her, proud to have managed to make her friend happy again. True, she hadn't satisfied her curiosity fully, but Lily was more important. The mystery of Petunia would just have to wait for another day.


	3. Hogwarts I - 1964

Narcissa woke to hear Lily's owl, Artemis, tapping insistently on the glass.

"Artemis, what the…it's nine in the morning. On a Saturday." Narcissa groaned.

But the tear-stained letter attached to Artemis's leg told her one thing. It was urgent. Lily needed her.

Dragging on a dress and barely pulling a brush through her cornlike curls, Narcissa ran downstairs, shouting for her mother.

"Mama! Mama! Can I go to Lily's? Now?"

"Narcissa! It is nine o'clock in the morning and you haven't even brushed your hair, let alone had breakfast. Of course you're not going, it would be most unseemly!"

"Mama, please! I don't think Petunia's very well," Narcissa showed her mother the letter and, having scanned it, Druella relented, "Oh very well. In fact, I'll take you. Rosanna will need all the support she can get today. But only if you make yourself respectable."

Narcissa nodded, and ran back upstairs to make herself more decent.

Within half an hour, the two of them were Apparating to the Evans's manor house. Lily commandeered Narcissa as soon as they arrived, dragging her off to their favourite place in the grounds while Druella joined the bevy of clucking ladies on the upper floor.

As soon as they were alone, Narcissa rounded on her friend, "Right, what is it? And this better be good, Miss Evans. You woke me up far too early for a Saturday and made Mama angry at me."

Her teasing anger vanished, however, the second Lily flung herself at her, crying her eyes out.

"Petunia's letter came today. Her Hogwarts letter. And Mummy just burned it. Threw it in the fire without even opening it. She and Tuney wrote to Dumbledore, saying that Tuney wouldn't take the place because she had a place at a Muggle school. A Muggle School."

The disdain for such a place was clear in Lily's voice even through her tears, "A Muggle School," she repeated. "As though such a place could ever be worthy of my sister. My sister. She won't be at Hogwarts with us. She won't be able to show me what to do. Where to go. Who to make friends with. What teachers to avoid…"

Unable to help herself, Lily broke down again. Narcissa wrapped her arms around her impulsively. "My sisters will do that, Lily. Bella and Meda will show you. They'll treat you like a sister, just like they treat me. So we'll be fine, you'll see. And Tuney will only go away for a while. Just until she feels better. When she feels better, she'll join us at Hogwarts. You'll see."

Even as she was saying the words, though, Narcissa wasn't sure they were true. Not for the first time, she wished Meda had come with them. Meda was eleven, about to start Hogwarts and she always knew what to say to make someone feel better. Always. But in the absence of Meda, all Narcissa could do was hug Lily while she cried.


	4. Wands - 1964

Rosanna Evans tapped the third brick to the left above the dustbin and took the girls' hands, keeping them back as the bricks shifted and groaned, opening the archway to Diagon Alley. Narcissa exchanged an excited glance with Lily and they bounced on the balls of their feet. With a warning glance, undercut by her indulgent smile, Rosanna stilled them long enough for the doorway to open fully, but she still couldn't stop them tearing their hands from hers and bounding towards Ollivanders as soon as it was humanely possible.

"Honestly, girls, wouldn't you rather go and get your money from Gringotts first? Or your dresses for the parties next week?" she protested lightly, "Surely you don't need wands this instant?"

"Yes, we do, Mummy. We're nine now; Andromeda's already got her Hogwarts robes. You promised you 'd let us have wands the moment she had her Hogwarts robes," Lily pointed out.

Rosanna sighed, "All right, all right. I suppose it is only fitting for two Pureblood young ladies to have their wands early. Come along, then."

Without further ado, she swept into Olivanders', where the wizened old proprietor looked at the three of them in surprise.

"Mrs Evans. Miss Lilyanna. And Miss Black. What can I do for you?"

"We're here for our wands," Narcissa informed him grandly. He blinked.

"Wands? But Miss Black, surely you don't start Hogwarts for another two years yet? I heard from Madam Malkin only the other day that she was fitting out your older sisters for their robes – Miss Andromeda for her first. You can't be ready for school yet."

"Be that as it may, Olivander, it is tradition among the best families that their children garner their wands early so they may learn to control their magic more effectively at a younger age. You will measure my daughter and Miss Black, please."

"Of course, of course," Olivander was suddenly obsequious, bowing and scraping to the tall, elegant woman as she cut him short. Summoning his tape measure, he got to work immediately.

For Lily and Narcissa, the next few minutes were a mixture of unparalleled excitement and interminable boredom. They barely listened to the old man's constant chatter about wandlore, and it wasn't until he actually started handing them wands that they started paying attention.

The hours went on; the pile of tried wands got higher and higher. Lily was the first to find what she was looking for.

"Aspen with a fairy wing and phoenix feather core. Ideal for Charms and Transfiguration. Try this, Miss Lilyanna. It's as lively as you are, I think."

Nodding, Lily took it into her hands. Had her smile not been enough proof, the shower of fiery blossoms that streamed from the end as she swished it around eagerly were far more than enough.

"Aye, that wand has chosen you clear enough," Ollivander answered, a faint glimmer of a smile coming to his lips, "Well done, Miss Lillyanna. Now for Miss Black."

Narcissa could barely wait for her next wand to be placed in her hand. Indeed, she didn't. Without a second's pause for thought, she leaned forward, snatching a particular box that caught her eye from the shelves.

Rosanna moved to scold her for her impatience, but Olivander looked at her pensively.

"That's an interesting combination you've picked there, Miss Black. Ivy wood with a mixture of Doxy Wing, Dragon Heartstring and Hippogriff feather inside. It's a proud wand, to be sure, for all it's power and versatility. But you may as well try it, since you liked the look of it."

Narcissa didn't wait to be asked twice. Flicking her wrist eagerly, she brought the wand down through the air...and sent a flock of black starlings flapping around the shop.

Olivander could only gape at her and nod when Rosanna turned to him, "We'll take them both."

Minutes later and twenty galleons lighter, the three of them exited the shop. Lily, forgetting her role of the demure Pureblood daughter, flung her arms around Narcissa delightedly.

"We're real witches now!" She exclaimed.


End file.
